SWIFT Cleared To Link Into TIPS

8 months ago

Payments messaging service SWIFT has received clearance to provide access to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) payment scheme, the company said Tuesday (Aug. 7). In an announcement on its website, SWIFT said that, beginning Nov. 30, financial services customers can connect to the TIPS system following the launch of SWIFTNet Instant, a solution that provides customers with a single access point to multiple instant payment systems across Europe.

SWIFT’s initiative to enable connectivity to multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms will include access to both TIPS, offered by the Eurosystem, and RT1, operated by EBA CLEARING. Both schemes facilitate instant domestic payments.

Reports in May said SWIFT was working with EFiS to facilitate connectivity into TIPS and RT1.

“We are delighted to have passed the Eurosystem’s compliance checks to provide connectivity to TIPS and look forward to offering our customers seamless and highly efficient access to both TIPS and RT1,” said SWIFT Chief Executive EMEA & Asia-Pacific Alain Raes in a statement. “Our unparalleled reach puts us in the unique position to deliver the infrastructure necessary to facilitate instant payments efficiently and with minimal integration required for institutions already connected to the SWIFT network.”

Clearance to connect clients into TIPS follows last year’s announcement from SWIFT that it would be able to connect customers into EBA’s RT1 scheme in November as well.

“RT1 will provide the European payments industry with a pan-European infrastructure platform for real-time payments in euro from day one of the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme,” said EBA’s Head of Service Development and Management Erwin Kulk in a statement at the time. “We expect to see close to 30 joiners for the go-live on 21 November 2017, and more than 50 users in the system by mid-2018.”

Raes also said at the time that SWIFT’s initiatives follow Europe’s efforts “to ensure its lead in the instant payments area,” adding that SWIFT connectivity solutions are “future-proofed” to help financial service providers support the changing payments landscape.